Communication networks may have a local unit through which a computer user communicates with a remote unit. The local unit might be a modem or other similar communication device that acts as a pass-through device or data pipe to pass all data through to the remote unit. The remote unit would then be a remote modem that is located at a different site.
When the local unit connects to the remote unit, some type of coordination or handshaking is typically performed as the local unit becomes a pass-through device. The handshaking generally takes the form of a connect request from the local unit and a connect response from the remote unit. Then the data from the local unit can be encapsulated in a data packet or some other form of data transfer and sent to the remote unit for processing.
If the remote unit becomes unstable or lost during the processing, the communication system typically must go through a power cycling to restore use of the local unit to the local user. This results in a disruption of service to the local customer that probably ends up with a loss of productive work. There is a resulting need in the art for a communication system that does not require power cycling in order to restore service to a locked-up communication device.